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Home » Lions anniversary a night to remember for CCHS students, Fellows recipients, more

Lions anniversary a night to remember for CCHS students, Fellows recipients, more

By any measure, May 23 was a night to remember for the Culver Lions Club.

First, it was a night for the club, celebrating its 69th anniversary, to hear­ken back to earlier years as the most active and accom­plished club in the commu­nity for decades running. This was accomplished through a digital slideshow of earlier scenes and com­mentary by several mem­bers.

It was also memorable as several members were lauded either from within the local club, or via presti­gious awards by the Lions' visiting District Governor, in addition to a powerful presentation by local stu­dents whose recent mission trip was founded by the club.

69 YEARS OF SERVICE

Lion Don Freese, man­ning the historical Power Point presentation, noted Culver's club was chartered in 1943, 26 years after the Lions Club International was formed, and is today one of 46,000 such clubs worldwide.

Lion Dan Adams quipped when he joined in 1975 and encountered found­ing members still active 34 years after the club's incep­tion, "I thought, these guys must be old. Now I've been a member for 37 years, so man I'm old!"

Lion Jim Harper, discuss­ing the "absolute shambles" the club's regular meeting spot -- the 1925 Culver train depot -- was in the ear­ly 1980s, noted a pen and ink drawing of the depot by Barb Meeker used to raise funds for its renovation has now become the club's em­blem.

Recalling the club's Dis­trict Governors past, Lion Mike Overmyer noted Earl Dean Overmyer had been the first District Governor from the Culver Lions. He also recalled fondly the original "Lions Den," lo­cated in the upper level of the building Mike's busi­ness, JMC Engineers, today occupies at 110 N. Main Street.

"It was a magnificent place," he said. "It would seat 200 people easily."

Shown were photos of Culver Lions installing Culver's first permanent street signs -- which the club purchased and mount­ed -- in 1950.

"People from all walks of life were Lions," Over­myer added. "Practically everyone from the (public) school, the bank, the (Cul­ver Military) Academy."

Other memories con­veyed through vintage photos included Frank Walaitis and others in one of the club's "womanless weddings," late 1940s boat races, successful local bas­ketball coach Red Sering operating the club's first eye exam machine for children, the club's foreign youth ex­change, and the three dis­trict governors to emanate from the club: Overmyer in 1956, Art Birk in 2002, and Pat Birk in 2006.

Mike Overmyer also re­called fondly the club's annual Halloween parade through town, led by the high school band. Lion Pat Birk said that tradition ended when someone in the street side crowd threw eggs into the band's in­struments.

SAUNDERS LAUDED

The club also bid fare­well to Wes­ley United Methodist Church pas­tor Larry Saunders, who will be leaving Cul­ver in early June, with a certificate of appreciation for his work in Culver.

Noting he wasn't expecting the rec­ognition, Saunders said, "I can't tell you what a posi­tive experience it's been to be part of the Culver com­munity. The Lions has been a phenomenal example of living a life of service, and that shows how we really value our fellow human be­ings. It says so much about the heart of this community and who you are."

MILLERS THANK THE CLUB

Longtime -- and now former -- Culver business owners Ward and Esther Miller presented the club with a framed print of a painting Esther created of the club's train depot meeting place, a gesture she said was part of thanking the club for an award the Lions bestowed upon the couple back in January. The Millers, who retired to Winona Lake last year, also distributed cards with smaller versions of the print, as well as a brief history of the depot, to everyone in attendance.

FOUR JONES FELLOWS

Lions District Governor Lana Wilson, congratulating the club on its anniversary, presented a pin to club presi­dent Barbara Winters, who will leave the post later this summer.

In a surprise move to recipients, Wilson also presented the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellow -- named for the Li­ons International founder -- to four Culver Lions.

Recipient Dan Adams, joking he's "rarely speechless," explained the club has "done a lot for me in my years of being a member. We talk about what we do for others, but it's what it does for us that's (also) very important."

Second recipient Mike Overmyer, calling the award "humbling" and noting Culver's club has honored him twice in the past (including once as Citizen of the Year), added,

"We have fun when we serve, and what we do is important to this community, so thank you very much."

Third recipient Fred Lintner said it was a "real honor" to be included with Adams and Overmyer. He also recalled his membership in the Lions Club of Rensselaer, Indiana, in the 1960s when, as band director, he marched in the Lions International parade in Chicago.

"It was a great honor to march down Michigan Avenue for the Lions," he noted, "but that doesn't match this hon­or."

Also awarded the Fellow was Marilyn Kelly, who Wil­son said was absent due to being at the hospital with her husband.

Winters noted the honors were due to efforts from the club's board, which made financial contributions to facili­tate eligibility.

Three Culver Community High School students re­ceived a warm reception from club members as they de­scribed their experiences during a spring break mission trip in March, a journey just under half of which the club helped underwrite (Culver Academies also un­derwrote part of each student's trip, as did the students themselves).

Justin Croy, Luke Dunfee, and Erin Bau joined several Culver Academies students and faculty spent a week in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, where they built homes for three Mex­ican families for Habitat for Humanity over the course of a week's stay.

Croy, a sophomore, said the bungalows in which the group stayed had an ocean view, with Dun­fee adding that beating the 98 degree temperatures and humidity was a challenge.

The hardest part of the la­bor, said Croy, was mixing the concrete by hand on the ground.

"Every day on the way to the worksite, there would be a big cement truck," smiled Dunfee. "We were really wishing they'd go dump it off for us!"
Academies students, said Bau, had collected shoes for the local children, and the American students were paired with Mexican youngsters for games and distribution of the shoes and other items, including candy treats.

"This is the part that made me think the most about what we were doing and what your donations did," said Croy. "Working gets tiresome -- it's hard work. In the back of your mind you're thinking, 'This is good for people.' But when you see the smiles on their faces, it kind of rejuve­nates you...it changed everybody's attitude on the trip."

Dunfee said he was touched by seeing the children wear­ing the shoes and backpacks they received, during the final night's closing ceremonies.

The students also joked about being overseen by heav­ily armed guards throughout the experience, and taking photos with some of them at the end of the trip. Some excitement took place in student hotel rooms due to a pro­liferation of gecko lizards in some rooms as well.

Croy recalled Academies wellness director and one of the adult leads on the trip providing the students with jour­nals, topics to write about, and inspirational words.

"When we first started going to meetings at the Alumni building on (the Academies) campus," said Croy of the months leading up to the trip. "I didn't know any of these students. But we all left the trip as family. Every single (person) was very kind, and it was helping the community and Academy come together."

He noted participants had a cookout a few nights prior to the Lions meeting at Neer's house as "kind of a reunion."

All three students thanked the Lions for what Dunfee called "the trip of a lifetime," and Bau singled out Lion Mick Henley, who, having encountered her as an employ­ee of Park N' Shop in Culver, gave her a suitcase for the trip when she didn't have one.

Winters added the club will soon sponsor a youth Lions Club in Culver called Leos, for those 18 and under.